The Search for Superman
by AliusNeo
Summary: They don't know what happened; they have no idea what they are looking at. They're not even sure how much they like each other; but these guys are always the smartest guys in any room. Now they have their keen, intelligent minds tasked on one pressing question: Where is Superman?
1. The Mystery Box

Disclaimer: DC comics owns all of their respective characters, and Marvel owns theirs and blah blah blah. I wont try and take their money unless they give it to me. *HA*

(This is a tie-in for my story titled "Superman and the New Avengers". This is the third story I've written for this continuity, but it ties directly into the events of the story I just mentioned. For the full story on what happens to Superman while in the Marvel Universe, check out "The Marvelous Adventure of Superman"; and watch as the story unfolds in my upcoming stories, "Superman and the Family Fantastic"; and "Lex Luthor: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D".)

Chapter 1:

Bruce Wayne cleared his throat loudly as he stood before the assembled scientists; wearing a business shirt which had the sleeves rolled up as he looked from face to face. Ray Palmer; Aka The Atom, had been kind enough to allow the assembly to happen at his lab in New York; he wore his signature uniform under a lab-coat, his mask pulled down to expose his shaggy brown hair. With degrees in several scientific fields he was a perfect candidate for the project.

Next was Mr. Terrific, or Michael Holt as he used to be known before his wife had died; since then he had been Mr. Terrific, and nothing else. His pitch white eyes stared towards Bruce Wayne as the billionaire examined the 'T' painted across his face. Being labeled the third smartest man in the world made Mr. Terrific a prime addition for Bruce's team.

Bruce's eye's then came upon the face of Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. Having his own rival company to Wayne Enterprises, Ted had been a little shocked when Bruce had called him; but after hearing about what had happened to Superman, Ted was game for any science experiment Bruce had in mind.

"You three," Bruce began, "are some of the finest minds man-kind had to offer. That being said, I want us to be getting straight to work." Bruce turned on his spot and began to walk towards a lab table which had a plastic drape over it, the was an object beneath the drape which dropped it up a foot off the table. "Approximately seventeen hours ago I received a call from Superman; there had been an attack on Metropolis which had been orchestrated by Lex Luthor; resulting in the deaths of over ten thousand of its residents." The others followed Bruce as he spoke and joined him at the table. "Superman asked me to help him triangulate Luthors base of operations, and it didn't take me long with the information he gave me. Five minutes after Superman, Supergirl and a Special Assault Unit from Metropolis P.D. assaulted Luthors hideout, there was an unknown incident which caused a whole room from Luthors base to disappear. It has been determined that Superman and Lex were in the room when this device activated." Bruce grabbed hold of the plastic cover and pulled it off the table to reveal the strange cube like machine.

"As far as we've been able to determine, it does contain trace components of Darkseids Mother Box." As Bruce spoke the three League members gazed intently at the device; simple in its design, yet it baffled all of them that Luthor had been able manipulate the Mother-Box technology. "We know that the Mother-Box was able to create 'Boom-Tubes' which enabled instantaneous travel between near infinite distances; and Darkseid claimed that he was able to travel through alternate versions of reality with it... We've never seen it tear out a whole section of a building though.I don't think I need to stress how difficult it's going to be to pin-point where this thing sent Superman." Bruce began to the index finger of his right hand across his brow; Mr. Terrific noticed it as an obvious stress indicator.

"First we must figure out how this device works; Luthor may have used pieces of the Mother-Box, but it looks more complicated in its design. I take it Luthor did not have any blue-prints laying about?" Mr Terrific said as he observed he device, noticing the different lights and switches that were on the device.

"Nothing. Luthor keeps his designs locked up tight. I have Cyborg working on hacking into the system, but it's been giving him a hard time." Bruce looked towards Ray Palmer as he spoke. "We need to figure out what this thing does, and after we figure out the device we can start working on how to get Superman back home."

...

_Nineteen Hours later..._

Ray Palmer sat in a chair at the lab table which had Luthors device on it; Ray was hunched over the tablet as he rested his head on the table, staring intently towards the device as he tried to deduce how it could be activated. Several feet away were Mr. Terrific and Ted Kord, working away one several mathematical formulas; arguing between themselves about mass-displacement through a worm-hole. As hard as they had all been working they were still no closer to understanding how the device worked.

Within a sound-proof room that Ray had built into the lab, Bruce Wayne was on his cellphone; holding it a foot away from his head as the voice of Lois Lane-Kent screamed through the earpiece, "He didn't even wake me up before he left; he was just gone! Where is he Bruce? Why haven't you found him yet?" Bruce's face held a stern look as he cleared his throat.

"We're doing everything we can Lois. The device is built around the tech that built a Mother-Box; it's not exactly easy to decipher." Bruce said as he looked through the sound-proof glass window, watching his fellow Leaguers try to figure out the device. "I know you're worried. I know you're scared; I'm scared for him too..." There was a silence that chimed through the phone; Bruce was surprised Lois was letting him have his say. "I wish I could tell you that we've made more progress than we have, but this is one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the universe; do you understand the scope of that? Civilizations that have colonized entire star systems are baffled by the tech that Darkseid has at his disposal. We're working as hard as we can Lois."

"Well work harder." _Click._ And just like that Lois had left Bruce to get back to work; which he was very thankful for; yet Bruce knew from her tone that she was dead serious, and she was right. They needed to work faster; all this time and still nothing to show for it was unacceptable..

"What do we have?" Bruce called out to the others as he exited the sound proof room and came back into the lab; Ted Kord and Mr. Terrific both turned and began to approach Bruce, asking him to confirm which of them was right about mass-displacement through worm-holes. Bruce cast them both an aggravated look. "Really? We have more important things to do than argue inter-dimensional theory. No matter how relevant the subject matter is we have to stay focused on the device. Palmer, tell me you have something." Bruce said as he walked by the two scientists and towards Ray Palmer; who turned on his seat and faced Bruce as he straightened himself up.

"I've been thinking over a few encounters we had with Desaad where he had used the Mother-Box, and I can't think of a single instance where there wasn't some sort of trace signature left after it's use." Ray said as he looked up to Bruce, who was rubbing his brow with his index finger again.

"I already checked the lab; if it did leave a signature then I don't have a device that can pick it up." Bruce said as Ray Palmer shrugged his shoulders; he really thought he was on to something. Bruce turned back to the others as Ray turned on his seat and went to resume his vigilant observation of the modified Mother-Box. Yet as Ray Palmers eyes met the device, he was startled to see that it was emitting a strange red glow.

"Uh, guys. It's doing something!" Ray Palmer shouted as he looked back to the others. There was a small shock-wave that emitted from the device that sent Ray Palmer backwards off of his seat and to the feet of the other League members. The strange red glow that emanated around the device began to grow and spark; causing a strange red energy sphere to encase it. "What the hell?" Ray Palmer said as he picked himself up to his feet, "I didn't touch it; I swear!" Ray said intently as he looked towards Bruce Wayne, who cast him a confused look before his gaze was quickly pulled back towards the strange red sphere, which seemed to be growing in size.

"Terrific, start getting readings on this thing." Bruce called out as Mr. Terrific reached into his belt; tossing several of his T-Sphere's towards the growing red orb. The T-Sphere's began to emit and electrical grid around the sphere; Mr. Terrific examined the T-Sphere's recordings on his data-pad. There was a sudden electric feedback from the red energy orb that caused the T-Spheres to malfunction; falling to the ground lightly as the energy sphere began to grow again. "What did you get?" Bruce said as he looked towards Mr. Terrific with worried and uncertain look across both of their faces. It was obvious to Bruce that Mr. Terrific had no idea what to make of his readings.

"Aaaahg!" A voice came shouting through the energy sphere as the four scientists looked terrified towards it; fearing that something awful was about to come out. The shout was heard again, but this time Bruce recognized it a shout of pain; and a familiar one at that. Bruce's eyes opened wide as he began to approach the glowing red energy sphere. Ted Kord and Ray Palmer looked to him not knowing what the hell he was thinking, while Mr. Terrific examined his T-Sphere's data.

"Clark?" Bruce shouted into the sphere as the others looked to him with looks of bewildered hope. "Clark, it's Bruce! If you can hear me, say something!" Bruce shouted again into the sphere as it hung in the air. For what seemed like an eternity, the four sat and waited for something to call back; hoping with all of their might that providence had struck. Moments passed and there was no answer; hope began to dwindle, then another cry of pain was shouted through the sphere as a familiar voice called out to them.

"Bruce? He-help me...please!" The pleading voice of Clark Kent echoed throughout the laboratory as the four men stood; their eye's brimming at the thought that they had found him. Bruce stepped closer to the energy sphere, reaching out as he approached; yet as his hand made contact with it the orb imploded on itself; causing a shock-wave that shattered the shatter-proof glass and sent the others onto the backs as Bruce Wayne came soaring past them, sliding on the floor until he collided with the solid metal wall.

Ted Kord rushed to Bruce Wayne's aid; noticing that Bruce was bleeding from his nose and his left ear. "Are you alright?" Ted asked as Bruce began to nod his head; Ted placed his hands on Bruces ribs; and when he was sure that they weren't broken to turned to the others. "He''ll be alright." Ted said with relief as Ray Palmer turned to Mr. Terrific with a worried look on his face.

"Did your drones get anything useful?" Ray asked with an urgency in his tone; Mr. Terrific reviewed his findings with a confused; a long sigh escaping him as he shook his head.

"These readings are off the charts. It's as if all of space-time were bending into that thing; even on a sub-atomic level." As Mr. Terrific spoke a light grin cut across Ray Palmers face; he had waited a long time to have his chance to repay Superman for all the times he had saved his butt; and he wasn't going to pass up his opportunity.

"Sub-atomic is my area of expertise; I'll go get Clark back." Ray said as he discarded his lab uniform; pulling up his mask with one hand as the other reached down to his belt and activated his mass-control device; leaping towards the device as he began to shrink down to a sub-atomic level. Ray could hear Mr. Terrific shout after him about it being too dangerous; something about the readings being too unpredictable; but Ray knew in his heart that this might be their only chance at getting Superman back, and he wasn't about to pass it up.

His feet touched down on the metal floor; yet a the sub-atomic level it was hard to tell; the only way Ray really knew which direction he should go was by the trail of exploding red particles that were floating about the air; mere relative yards away from him. The particles exploded with dazzling displays of red sparks; yet as nice as they were to look at, they were Rays ticket to saving the day. Ray began to run towards the particles, leaping with all his might as he crashed into one of the particles.

Strange sensations ran through The Atom as he was tossed about in a strange energy storm that now brewed and swirled all around him. He felt as if his skin was being frozen, yet his inside felt like it were on fire. He opened his eyes and could see nothing through the thick red energy that enveloped him. Then almost as quickly as he had entered the particle, he felt his body crash into solid ground.

The Atom coughed slightly as he tried to regain his breath; rising to his knees he began to take in his environment. There was a strange red energy that flowed in the sky above him; the colour was oddly reminiscent of the sphere in the lab. As he continued his examination of the sky he couldn't help but notice that it not only appeared that he was on the sub-atomic level of the laboratory floor, but seemed to be on another planet with several moons in orbit. "Who dares enter my realm?" A shrewd coarse voice called out from behind The Atom as he swung around to the sight of a humanoid mini-hulk; his body was adorned with a strange green battle armor of a design Ray had never seen before. His yellow face was rough and jagged to match the design of his armor; and it was hard to tell where the suit ended and the man began. "I am the Chief Scientist and ruler of the technocracy governing the five planets of the Sub-Atomica system within the Microverse." The man began to stand himself up as tall as he could, towering over Ray Palmer as the hero began to metaphorically wet his pants. "I am known as Psycho-Man; and this is my realm."

(No, no, no. He was looking for 'Superman', not Psycho-Man! Ah well, that's what happens when you don't listen to Mr. Terrific.*sigh* Looks like Ray Palmers rescue attempt may have been a little more ill conceived than even Mr. T thought? Hope you enjoyed the spin-off; there will definitely be more to come that will tie directly into "Superman and The New Avengers".)


	2. The Fear of Failure

Chapter 2:

The Atom jumped behind a nearby rock-face as the Psycho-Man tossed a giant boulder towards him. The boulder smashed into pieces, flying past the Atoms head as he crouched behind the rocks.

"You flee with great vigor. You clearly have a thirst for life that you do not wish to see snuffed out." The Atom heard Psycho-Man shout as the hero began to slowly make his way through the rocks; trying desperately to stay out of sight. "What is it that drives you?" The Atom heard the voice echo from above him as he lifted his head; his eyes falling upon the Psycho-Man and he stood feet away from him.

"You know; for someone called Psycho-Man; you can talk fairly cohesively." The Atom pointed out; hoping that he would be able to reason with this strange attacker. There was a smile that began to form along the Psycho-Mans face.

"The name was not given for my state." He began; slowly walking down the rock-face as he slowly approached the Atom; who reached down to his mass-control belt controls. "The name was given for the state I inspire in others." He finished as he raised his left arm up; he then reached over with his right hand and activated a screen display from a wrist monitor which appeared as his armor shifted away. Ray Palmer was amazed by the technology that this man was utilizing. "Now tell me; what is it which drives your thirst for life." The Psycho-Man pressed a button on his console.

A strange feeling began to crawl its way into Rays head; he felt momentarily dizzy as he almost stumbled backwards onto a nearby rock. "Tell me; Palmer. Do you fear death?" Psycho-Man said with a low tone; The Atom glaring at him as a strong headache began to render him weakened. The Atom was thrown off that this guy knew his name. Suddenly the headache became unbearable for a moment as several images began to race through Ray Palmers mind; times when he had been in deep, when it had looked like the end with no way out. "No." Psycho-Man began again; "You have looked into the face of death before. You know that death will claim us all. You have tamed your fear of it; but that is not your prime motivation."

Ray fell backwards onto the ground; his headache began to intensify even more as he began to have mild hallucinations. "What...what's happening to me?" The Atom said weakly as he looked up to the sight of Psycho-Man; the background behind him was shifting, and the Atom could not make out where they were anymore. Another cringe of pain cause the Atom to close his eyes shut.

"You doubt yourself, Palmer. Is this doubt in yourself that which drives you?" There was a strange sense of euphoria that ran through The Atom as Psycho-Mans voice began to fade into almost a dim whisper. The Atom opened his eyes as the pain began to subside; but the feeling of euphoria was soon replaced by sheer horror; as before him was a destroyed city; the ruins so dilapidated that it was impossible to tell where he was. He recognized the moon; Earths moon; but it wasn't the sky, or the ruins that held the Atoms attention most. Strung up on a make-shift cross; his uniform torn and bloodied; his face so bruised that only the tattered remains of his cape, which flapped like a flag in the wind, tied to a stick in the ground; and the symbol upon it revealed his identity. The corpse of Superman had been tied up and put on display in the midst of this fallen city.

"Clark! Oh no! Please, no!" Ray Palmer called out as he ran up to the body of his fallen friend. Fresh blood still dripping from multiple lacerations to his body and face. Ray reached up and began to frantically pull at the binds that held Superman in place; yet as he pulled on the binds, they began to tighten; causing Supermans skin to twist and tear under the pressure. The Atom stepped back, baffled by what he was seeing. "This can't be happening! Please; don't be dead." Ray began to plead as his knees bucked; wishing with all of his might that he had not failed.

"Interesting." The voice of Psycho-Man; echoing from the back of The Atoms mind. "It is not fear of death; nor doubt of yourself; but your fear of failure." Another wave of euphoria ran through the Atom; causing him to blink momentarily; as his eyes opened the strange euphoria seemed to leave him, and he opened his eyes to the sight of the Psycho-Man, standing tall above him with a sinister grin perched across his face. "Yet still, this is not your prime motivation... You will be an interesting test subject indeed." He growled as he deactivated his wrist console; the armor shifting back around it as he had finished using it.

"What... just happened?" The Atom said weakly; he was having slight trouble breathing, and had noticed how profusely he was sweating; he was terribly confused from the events that he had just witnessed.

"You have been made an example by the dominater of the technocracy; and you should be happy to still have your limbs attached." Psycho-Man growled again as he gazed up towards the red wave of energy in the sky which was dissipating as he spoke. "The Red-Witch's power has spread to our worlds before; but never has it brought with it such interesting creatures." As Psycho-Man spoke, Ray Palmer looked up into the sky to the sight of the scarlet red energy beginning to lessen its intensity; he knew that he was going to have to make his move soon.

Several loud quakes shook the ground beneath him; the cause soon entered Ray Palmers view as what appeared to be a triceratops, a real-life dinosaur, mounted by a man in similar armor in design to Psycho-Mans. "My Lord." The man spoke; the dinosaur beneath him grunting loudly. "I received your transmission. What is your will?"

"Take this man and ready my laboratory. I wish to dissect this subject after I have learned what I can from it." Psycho-Man said as Ray Palmers ears perked up. The danger seemed to be growing every moment he stayed in this place; and dissection was not something he was willing to participate with.

Planting both feet on the ground; and reaching down with one hand to the mass-control device on his belt; Ray Palmer jumped into the air, activating his device as he did. The Atom began to grow in size; reaching out to the sparkling red energy as he grew. In the distance Ray could hear the shouts of Psycho-Man as his prey escaped him. The Atoms fingers touched the edges of the red energy; and in an instant he was pulled into it as his mass continued to increase.

The Atoms kept his eyes shut tight; after his last tumble through this energy he did not want to risk disorienting himself any further. Several moments passed and Ray Palmer felt his back collide with a hard surface; the voices of the Justice League booming all around him.

"What did it do?" The voice of Ted Kord shouted as Ray opened his eyes.

"My readings indicate that there was a spike in its energy output; but I still don't understand what kind of energy we're looking at. It's almost chaotic in nature." The voice of Mr. Terrific chimed in as Ray looked around to see that he was no bigger than a cigarette butt on the floor of the lab. Ray began to reach down to his device to increase his size; but as he did the strange energy sphere behind him spat something else out. Following Ray Palmer back into his world was the Psycho-Man. Ray's eyes opened wide as he quickly activated his device.

"Shut it off! Now!" Ray shouted as his size began to return to normal; the others were shocked to see their team-mate appear as if from nowhere.

"Ray? What's going on?" Bruce Wayne said from his place behind the desk; monitoring the box device that was generating the energy.

"Shut it off! Now!" Ray shouted again; but something began to happen in that moment; a side-effect from The Atoms mass-control seemed to be rippling through the red-energy; causing the Psycho-Man to continue to increase in size. Mr. Terrific; Ted Kord and Bruce Wayne looked on in horror at the sight of the Psycho-Man as he reached his full size; towering over all of them with a sinister smile across his face.

"The macro-verse! How sweet the smell of it is!" The Psycho-Man bellowed as he looked from face to face. "You will all bow to the will of;"

Without another word; Ray Palmer jumped forward and threw a punch directly into Psycho-Mans face. As the behemoth stumbled back, The Atom turned to the others and shouted; "Get him!" The others sprang into action, Mr. Terrific activated his T-spheres as they began to emit electrical bursts directed at Psycho-Man. Ted Kord ran towards a locker at the back of the laboratory where he kept certain devices, in case of just such an emergency. Bruce Wayne took his opportunity to try and change the modulation on the box; hoping that he would be able to figure out how to reverse what had just happened; and hopefully gain some understanding of the device.

The strong hand of the Psycho-Man punched through the electric bursts created by Mr. Terrifics T-Spheres; before it wrapped around Ray Palmers neck. "You dared to seek the knowledge of what lay in the micro-verse; Palmer; and you shall suffer for trying to escape my clutches." Suddenly, Ray Palmer could feel the same headache that came over him when he had been hallucinating back in the micro-verse.

"No." Ray called out, trying desperately to fight against the pain in his skull; images trying to pound their way into his mind. A sinister smile crept over Psycho-Mans face as he tightened his grip on The Atoms neck.

"Hey; Ugly!" The voice of Ted Kord called out, drawing the Psycho-Mans attention. Ted Kord held a large bazooka-like weapon which had been heavily modified. "You have three seconds to put him down before I turn you to jelly." Ted said as he pressed a button on his device, causing a blue light to start crackling at the weapons barrel.

"You dare threaten me?" The Psycho-Man began; tossing Ray Palmer to the ground violently. "I govern the technocracy of the sub-atomica! I am the voice, and the fist, and the mind of the greatest technological society to grace the multi-verse. What pathetic science could you wield that could possibly dare to compare against my greatness?"

"This is a special little toy I cobbled together a little while ago." The blue light began to intensify as Ted held down a trigger on the device. "The 'pathetic science' would take too long to explain;" Ted Kord said as a smile widened across his face; the light intensifying even more "so instead, I'm just going to shoot you." The blue light concentrated itself before exploding from the barrel of the weapon.

A mocking smile was perched on Psycho-Mans face as the energy beam closed in on him; he had no fear of the inferior technology these people would possess. Yet as the blast collided with Psycho-Man, the blue light enveloped him; and after several short seconds the behemoth of a being began to slowly shrink down in size. "No!" The Psycho-Man called out in anger, activating his arm console; he quickly pressed several buttons which caused his armor to begin to absorb the energy that enveloped him. The blue energy crackle around the Psycho-Man as the device Bruce was working on activated, causing a pulse of the strange red energy that had caused all of to burst forth. The blast enveloped the Psycho-Man; his shout was all that the four members of the Justice League could hear as they were all blinded by the red energy as it pulsed through the room.

The shouts from Psycho-Man ended abruptly as the four men were blinded; each of them stumbling to keep themselves up. "Is everyone okay?" The voice of Ted Kord echoed through the room as the men struggled to regain their eyesight.

"I'm alright." Mr. Terrific said as his hand rested on a nearby wall to support himself. "What the heck did you shoot him with?"

"Nifty little gadget I thought up. It harnesses trace particles left after That Atom uses his mass altering ability. I can reverse the size change of anything I want using those particles." Ted said as his eyesight began to return; he could make out Mr. Terrific leaning on a wall; Ray Palmer was resting against the desk; rubbing his neck. Bruce was blinking profusely from behind the desk where the modified Mother-Box was. Ted walked over to Ray Palmer and knelt down in front of him. "You okay?"

Ray coughed several times before he responded in a raspy voice. "I'll be okay; think he may have bruised my voice-box." Ted smiled down at Ray.

"Maybe you could call yourself Bat-Atom until it's healed?" Ted said as Ray smiled towards him, Bruce smiled; but his smile quickly faded as he gazed down towards the Mother-Box.

"That device; you said it uses trace particles from my mass-altering device?" Ray asked as Ted helped him up.

"Yeah; I discovered them a few months ago. I've been calling them Palmer particles." Ted said with a smile; which Ray returned.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer." As the words came out of Rays mouth, Ted burst into laughter.

"Everyone. Come here." Bruce called out to the others; all of them began to move towards him. Bruce shifted the Mother-Box around to reveal a small panel had opened up, and a series of numbers were displayed. Bruce quickly ran towards a black-board, erasing everything that was on it and wrote down the numbers: 22:109:0:646.

"What does it mean?" Mr. Terrific asked with intense curiosity. Bruce turned to face them all with a smile.

"The panel opened up right when that... guy, appeared. That lone zero before the 646; it was set at -50. Those 'Palmer Particle' must have altered the frequency on the device." There was a long silence as the others waited for Bruce to answer Mr. Terrifics question; the smile on his face already telling them. "These are coordinates. That's where Clark is." Ted rushed to Bruces side; he did not share the same smile that Bruce had.

"Okay, so we know where to go. Now how do we get there?" The question seemed to linger in the air; the moment being broken by the sound of the Mother-Box powering down. "Oh, great!" A disappointed groan came out of Ted Kord; his face turning to a look of sorrow and mixed anger. "How the hell are we supposed to turn it back on?"

((Authors Note::These poor geniuses can't seem to catch a break can they? Maybe a special quest star in the next chapter can help them? You may love him; you may hate him. Either way, the Greatest Hero you've Never Heard Of is going to be on the case. And you can bet I'm going to make his life hell {because to be honest, I think he's kind of a dick]. Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. And hope you all had an enjoyable end of the world. Happy 2013!))


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